The days of the multi-million dollar, multi -album/multi-picutre deal are offically over.

Last year, Mariah Carey left Sony and signed a deal worth million dollars with Virgin Records. Her first album for her new label, Glitter, would be released along with a film of the same name. Everything looked like it was going to go fine until Mariah had a nervous breakdown. The film crashed and burned at the box office, while the album did not meet sales expectations.

EMI, the company that owns Virgin records, decided to get Mariah out of the house. They did so with a $28 million payoff. According to mtvnews.com, she also gets to keep the $21 million for signing with the label, brining her totaly payday for the album to $49 million.

Along with the money paid to Mariah, EMI lost money elsewhere. Think of the millions of dollars in advertising used to promote the album. Think of all the money that was spent making those music videos. Don’t forget about all the expenses that come with travelling to promote the record, shipping the CD, and for making the CD itself. There was money to be lost all around the board.

Now, the compnay that signed her, EMI, is facing serious problems. A combination of slumping album sales and the whole Mariah contract is serving a double dose of woe. According New Musical Express’s website, the label is being forced to condense all of their artists down to two labels, Capitol and Virgin. If things get bad enough, the name EMI will cease to exist as everything comes together.

The aftermath from the Mariah Carey fiasco is proof enough that the entertainment industry cannot spend millions of dollars to keep artists at a label or for an actor to make a series of films.

For one, artists are going to have to prove that they have staying power and that they are worth the money. Heck, if you are willing to pay me $49 million, I’ll make a crappy album, too. Audiences these days are fickle. What is hot today will not be hot tomorrow. Sony spent millions promoting Micheal Jackson’s Invincible, only to see it sell below expectations. Teen pop acts, like Backstreet Boys and N*Sync, are in even greater danger as their fans grow up.

Record labels also need to be more responsible when it comes to signing artists. A multi-album deal can be very nice for a label if an artist does well. However, if something along the scope of Glitter happens, the results are disasterous. Try signing artists to a smaller deal.

Long term deals can also backfire if an artist becomes successful. If they see that there is more money to be made, they will try to leave. This leads to lawsuits and mudslinging.

So what does this all mean to the average music fan? Have you seen the price of a CD lately? Yeah, they are high. Why are they so high? Greed. Artists want money. Labels want money. They only think about making the big money. It’s almost like gambling; they don’t think about the risks involved. It’s about time that they do.